Archer's POV Hex Hall
by AllieSGoss
Summary: Hex Hall series in Archer's point of view. See inside his thoughts, feelings and what he does when Sophie isn't around, was it love at first sight? Or did he, like Sophie did for him, fall for her sarcasm, and great personality. Of course we know there where a few bumps in the road.
1. Chapter 1

Archer's POV from Hex Hall

**No, sadly I do not own the incredible, amazing wonderful world of hex hall. That would be all Rachel Hawkins doing. And man, oh man, do I wish I owned archer *swoon* first fanfiction, only fifteen years of age, hope you enjoy. Please give me feedback. I am hoping I'll be able to do the whole book.**

CHAPTER 1

I was standing, leaning on a tree when I saw her. Her mom pulled up in a beat up rental car and parked just across from me, just far enough so they couldn't see me, but near enough so I could hear them. Perfect.

_She _came out. _Here we go._ I thought, not too happily. I remembered what her file had said, she was pretty short, brown curly hair, freckles and brown eyes, but I wasn't prepared for what I had saw. She was pretty, that much I could tell from afar, even though a scowl was clearly shown on her face. I almost laughed out loud; there usually was a scowl on kid's faces when their parents drag them here. _Welcome to Hex Hall. _ I thought.

She had a brochure clutched in one hand, I could just make out the words Hecate Hall on the front and smirked, she put her sunglasses on top of her head and tried patting down the mass of curls on her head.

Her mother came on the other side to stand next to her; she had a grim look on her face. The girl's file had said her mother was supposedly _human_, but considering what her daughter was, I know something was a little bit off.

I just couldn't imagine this five foot girl being, you know being a demon. Even if it was just less than a-half, it was enough to make The Eye suspicious.

Her mom sighed. "Well?"

"Awesome," she murmured. She patted her hair again, "I always wondered what it would be like to live in someone's mouth." I held back a laugh; this girl's file had also said her second language was practically sarcasm. I guess this assignment wasn't going to be as boring as I thought it would be.

She stared unimpressed at the looming buildings in front of her. Though, I don't blame her. When I first came to Hex hall, I thought it was a prison for us 'Prodigium', just an excuse to lock up us monsters from the world to keep the humans safe.

"I still don't see how helping one girl find a date imperiled other witches." Huh, I wonder if she had done the spell for her, or for a friend. I was guessing the latter, well more like hoping.

But I wondered mostly if she knew what she was? Was she, like her file said, in the dark about what she was? Or was she playing innocent in this whole time?

"It wasn't just that one girl Soph, and you know it. It was that boy with the broken arm in Delaware, and that teacher you tried to make forget about a test in Arizona…." Her mom trailed off. So Soph was it? So it was, I'm guessing short for Sophia. I smirked again, it was almost perfect, like the good girl next door, except, she really wasn't.

"He got his memory back eventually." She said defensive. "Well most of it."

Her mom sighed and pulled out a trunk that I assumed was Sophie's, though it looked like it had been through all the 1800s. "Your father and I both warned you that there were consequences for using your powers. I don't like this any more than you do, but at least you'll be with… with other kids like you."

I almost snorted; what her mom didn't know was that she was practically handing her over to the enemy. To the Eye. To me. She was actually more safer out _there, _than she was here. The humor wasn't lost on me.

"You mean total screw-ups," Sophie said, putting her bag on her shoulder.

"You're not a screw-up Sophie, you've just made some mistakes." From what I've read, she's made more than just mistakes, and I think she knew that too. "Besides, this is a good school." Her mom said as they approached the building.

"Huh." Her mother looked up at Hecate, looks like _Sophie_ wasn't the only one intimated by its three stories; old renaissance looking built. Though I don't think the large oak trees helped at all since Sophie was currently looking at them like they were going to come alive and drag her and her mom into the building.

She tugged at her Hex Hall skirt, I grinned, she didn't know it, but she made it work, which was quite impressive since I was pretty sure the head mistress, or whatever, made the uniforms look as ugly as possible so there was no fraternizing amongst the students. I looked down at my own hex hall uniform, my collar unbuttoned and ties loose, I hated those things they were like leashes but for guys. I had took off my blazer and hung it on my elbow. No sense in sweating my butt off.

I had a feeling that Sophie was one of those girls who are beautiful, but didn't know it, which made them even more attractive, especially if they didn't flaunt it and act like the world revolved around them.

"It's pretty," her mom said, a little too perky if you ask me.

"Yah it's beautiful. For a prison."

Her mom shook her head, "Drop the insolent-teenager thing, Soph. It's hardly a prison."

Man that woman had no idea.

"This really is the best place for you."

"I guess," Sophie mumbled. They looked around the courtyard, and I knew from personal experience it was a lot to take in. there were kids and their parents milling around. I felt a pang of jealousy, but squashed it down. I had a family, and I was here because of them. To help them.

I leaned in further, catching the end of their conversation.

"..be constantly worrying about you for once." They walked closer to me and I started to come out from behind the tree, I could see Sophie was visibly relieved to be finally out of the sun.

They both jumped when a howl pierced the humid air. Sophie turned slowly, I turned too and found the parents of a werewolf, looking down at him a little irritated. Sophie looked at them with wide eyes and glanced nervously at her mom, who also looked a little concerned.

"Stop it Justin," his dad said, a little irritated.

The woman put a hand on Justin's shoulder, trying to calm him. "Listen to your father. This is just silly."

It almost worked too, Justin's werewolf form started morphing back to a human, but then Sophie did something that surprised me. She laughed.

Justin turned to her, gave out an angry howl, and charged. I sighed, looks like this was my queue, I thought.

The two parents cried out in surprise and in warning. I almost rolled my eyes, because seriously, like that was going to do anything.

"Bad dog!" Sophie yelled, which made me laugh out loud, seriously this girl was hilarious. I held up my hand and did a simple blocking spell. In a flash of blue light, the werewolf smacked into the invisible wall, falling into a pitiful heap, I almost felt bad, but he would've done much worse to Sophie, than what I just did to him.

Sophie's mom ran up to her, breathing hard she asked if she was alright.

"Fine," she said, brushing the invisible grass off her skirt.

I stepped up behind her, "you know," I started, knowing I should make at least a nice intro of myself, since I'd have to get close to her, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make fun of her for the 'bad dog' thing, so I just thought screw it and did just that. "I usually find a blocking spell to be a lot more effective than yelling 'Bad dog,' but maybe that's just me," I leaned on to the tree next to me and smirked.

"You're a witch, aren't you?" I asked, knowing it would piss her off even more. I pushed off the tree and walked closer, freckles were scattered along her nose and checks, making her look pale, but her checks were red, either from the heat or embarrassment. Or both, that made me grin.

"Maybe in the future, you could endeavor not to suck so badly at it," I finished, then turned and sauntered off.

I glanced behind me and saw Sophie looking at her fingers that were outstretched and pointed at me, like they malfunctioned, but I could guess what had happened, I turned and saw what I had predicted. Mrs. Casnoff was standing on the front porch, looking at Sophie. "That's enough, my dear." She pointed at Sophie, "We do not use our powers against another Prodigium here, no matter how provoked we may be. May I add, Archer," she turned to me, uh-oh. "That while this young lady is new to Hecate, you know better than to attack another student."

I snorted, "So I should have let him eat her?"

"Magic is not the solution for everything," she said, giving me a pointed look. I had a sarcastic remark on the tip of my tongue but then Sophie spoke up.

"Archer?" she asked, her eyebrows raised, I almost laughed, this was the funniest thing ever. Usually girls swooned for me, and yes I know that sounded really cocky and annoying, but it was true. I had a feeling that Sophie was going to be different. And that kind of scared me.

"Is your last name Newport or Vanderbilt? Maybe followed by some numbers? Ooh! Or maybe Esquire!"

My smile didn't waver, and I think that irritated her a bit, "Actually, it's Archer Cross, and I'm the first one." Now it was time to act dumb, "Now what about you," I squinted at her, "Let's see….. brown hair, freckles whole girl-next-door vibe going on… Allie? Lacie? Defiantly something cutesy ending in ie."

She stared at me, eyes wide and mouth opening and closing. She didn't have any witty comeback to throw back at me, and I got some satisfaction in that. Perfect timing too, because her mother had finished talking to Justin's parents and yelled out, "Sophie! Wait up."

"I knew it," I laughed, "See you, _Sophie_." I turned and walked into the house.

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	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

**Thanks for everybody that subscribed and added a review, you literally made my day. I still do not own hex hall, no matter how badly I want Archer. Hope you like it, please review.**

I leaned on the railing as I spied on Sophie and her mom; they were looking around the massive foyer, or as I liked to call it 'the lobby to hell', while Mrs. Casnoff droned on about Prodigium history, about how all of us came to be on this great and magnificent Earth. I sighed, honestly I wasn't really paying attention, and all I heard was, 'blah blah blah,' something about warlocks, which would be me, and something else about an intermingle between human and witches.

Honestly, when I was assigned to this mission I didn't think I have to sit through one more of Mrs. Casnoff's 'Great Lecture about all of us super beings,' even though I'm sure she lives for them. She probably sits in her office; with pictures of all her cats, and maybe even some stuffed cats, writing about how to torture all of her students with old speeches and crap. I shrugged, what can i say, she seemed like a cat lady.

I tuned in when I heard Soph speak up, "Good luck explaining to God that you used to spank one of his heavenly beings." I bite my lip to keep from laughing, because an invisibility spell wouldn't be all that useful if they could hear me, so I kept quiet.

"Sophie!" her mom said, laughing.

"What? You did. I hope you like hot weather, mom, that's all I'm saying." Her mom laughed again, even though I was pretty sure she was trying to hold it in for Mrs. Casnoff's sake.

Mrs. Casnoff cleared her throat, and I had a feeling another lecture and more history of the great Hecate hall was coming, so I slipped away and dropped the invisibility spell.

I just rounded the corner, when I saw Elodie, who had her Barbie doll gang on each side of her. Elodie was also a part of my cover, ever since Holly had died; The Eye had suspected that Elodie and her group raised a demon.

I wasn't so sure; all I have heard them talk about was shoes, clothes and doing their nails in various colors and patterns. All I thought they were capable of doing was conjuring up shoes and clothes that they probably didn't even need. I mean honestly, there should be a law or something against having excessive amounts of clothing and shoes.

"Hey Arch!" Elodie screeched, I tried, unsuccessfully, not to flinch. Yah, Elodie was beautiful. Her red, firey hair was perfectly styled almost to a point to where it annoyed me. Weird, I know. I kind of missed Sophie and her wild curly hair, I much prefer that instead of Elodie's. She was kind of annoying, and had no personality beyond girly unnecessary, stupid things. But Sophie seemed to be like her hair, wild but cute and unpredictable.

I shook my head. I needed to stop; I only known the girl for an hour and I can't get her out of my head, I sighed. Besides, when did Archer Cross even start caring about girls' hair styles? And when did I even start referring to myself in the third-person?

Elodie came bounding toward me like a perfectly groomed tiger; her gal pal's tried following in suite. I wasn't a big fan of Anna or Chaston, they literally lived and breathed Elodie. What she did, what she wore and who to make fun of.

Usually it was Jenna, the unfortunate vampire, stuck here till the council decided what to do with her. I knew she knew it too, that she was probably going to get staked by the end of this, and I kind of felt bad for her.

I ran my hands through my hair and was getting ready to say goodbye and go take a nap, but then Chaston spoke up.

"Did you see the new girl?"

Elodie wrapped her arm around my waist, and smirked, "No, I didn't. Too bad I couldn't have the honors in giving her a warm welcome to Hex Hall."

I rolled my eyes, sure a warm welcome which probably involved a lot of threatening and hair flipping.

Anna laughed, "Well you should've seen her hair, it was like this big," she held her hands next to her hair and spread them out like, a foot. I rolled my eyes again, Anna and Chaston also exaggerated… a lot. Her hair wasn't that big or puffy, it was just super curly.

And now it was time for a nap before dinner. I figured Soph will be just unpacking and saying goodbye to her mom. So nothing interesting to spy there except maybe a lot of tears and hugging, nothing I needed to report except that girls are way more emotional than people think.

I said goodbye and gave Elodie a peck on the cheek before bounding up to my room, my head hit the pillow and I was out like a light.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey sorry the last post was so short. Hope this one makes up for it! Still do not own Archer or Hex Hall. I know, my life sucks. Just joking. Enjoy, please review.**

CHAPTER 3

The dining hall was packed with kids milling around and packing their plates with food, I saw Sophie with a plate piled high with food and sitting with Jenna. I smirked; of course Sophie would befriend the outcast of the school.

I looked down at my plate, like Sophie, I tried piling food as high as I possibly could. Sure Hex Hall seemed like a prison, but the food was defiantly anything but, even though it was only the first day spread.

All the guys at my table had similar food portions to my plate, were chatting about nothing all too interesting and laughing about stupid things. Sure, they were pretty cool, and made my assignment much less boring. But they were the _enemy_, I almost laughed at that. I wasn't lost on the irony, me being with The Eye, with the group that kills what I am. I was on the wrong side, they knew it and I knew it too, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Some of the people that worked with The Eye was alright, sure some of them hated what I was, and took advantage of what I could do, but they raised me. When they could've killed me, they didn't.

I shook my head, there was no reason for me to go down this road, I needed to focus on my assignment. On Sophie, even though she was the whole reason I was questioning if what I was doing was right.

"Yo Cross, why are you being so quiet?" Evan, my roommate yelled from next to me. I resisted the urge to flinch and looked up from my plate. I smirked, leaning back in my chair, raising the front legs up, like I usually did.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about how I'm not all too thrilled in having to take The Vandy's class again," I sighed, "Mrs. Casnoff is making me retake the course since I was absent for a couple weeks last year." I rolled my eyes, "Which is messed up since I could probably kick everybody's asses."

Evan leaned in closer grinning, "yah but isn't Elodie in your class? I have to say I wouldn't mind wrestling with her." He wiggled his eyes brows, and I grinned, punching him in the arm.

"I don't know man, I don't think I can sit through one more conversation about shoes and shopping. Or about what Chaston and Anna wore and how 'totally and unbelievably, uncool' it was." The guys laughed all around me and I leaned back grinning. I was in a way better mood now, even though the guys and I weren't that close, they were still pretty cool and entertaining. I was always a little stand offish around people, not really trusting very easily, but the guys never seemed to mind, or ask. And I was obviously okay with that, it's not like I'll be going around saying to people, like oh, 'hey you know that one group that everybody keeps telling you about, who kills Prodigium? Yah I'm a part of that group, and I'm undercover right know, feeding information to that one group you're all afraid of.' Yah that would go over well.

I glanced over at Sophie, and saw that she and Jenna were looking at us, or more particularly me. I smirked, I'm not totally great at lip reading but I was pretty sure I saw Jenna mouth 'Archer Cross', I smiled, looks like Sophie was asking about me.

I ran my hands through my hair and looked back down at my plate, and sighed. I kind of had mix feelings about Sophie asking about me. Like, she actually cared about who I was? Or, why should I care that she cares? And most importantly, if my feelings, if I had any of course, were going to get in the way with my mission? That was a biggy, because then I might get replaced and someone else will take over. Then things will get way more complicated; and other people in The Eye would be less merciful and end up killing both Sophie and Jenna.

My thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. Casnoff rose from her 'I'm more superior chair' and addressed the whole dining hall filled with students.

"Students," her voice boomed, "Dinner is now concluded. If this is not your first night at Hecate, please exit the dining hall. The rest of you are to remain seated." I had gotten up and started walking towards the door when Elodie was right by my side and had grabbed my hand. As we were making our way to the doors when Mrs. Casnoff stopped me, "Mr. Cross? Where are you going?" I sighed in frustration.

I turned and stared at Mrs. Casnoff in irritation, "This isn't my first year," I insisted. And saw that we had the whole dining room of student's curious faces turned in our direction like it was some kind of soap opera they were watching. Now all they needed was the popcorn. Elodie placed her hand on my shoulder, like she was trying to show me off to the whole school, I glanced to my right and almost rolled my eyes, or more particularly Sophie, who was looking at our enjoined hands like she wanted to rip them apart.

"I've seen this crap before," I said, returning my attention back to Mrs. Casnoff.

Mr. Ferguson, the shifter teacher, yelled at me to watch my language. I rolled my eyes, if crap was a bad word, then I've been cussing more than a sailor.

"And yet I don't believe it has sunk in," she gestured to the seat where Jenna was sitting across from Sophie, "Kindly have a seat."

I muttered a few choice words that would've had Mr. Ferguson cringing and sat down. "Hey there, Sophie."

She clenched her jaw and her eyes narrowed, "Hi, so what's this?"

I sat back in my seat and had a grim look on my face, I remembered what had happened last time and almost shuddered.

"Oh, you'll see." I said, then all the lights went out.

**Thanks to everybody that reviewed and read this story, I hope you liked it! Please review; tell your friends and all that jazz. Sorry it took so late to bring this one up. Next one will be up soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Good afternoon my loyal subjects! I am sooo sorry for my absence…. I was grounded… yes I know, stupid. But today, since it's Thanksgiving break, thank God, I have the whole week off and I'll be posting up until Thursday, (I'll be going to Arizona) so this post will be extra-long and the next one will be up today or tomorrow. Sorry again! Thanks to everyone that reviewed, y'all are awesome! Oh, I still don't own Hex Hall….. Or Archer *sigh***

CHAPTER 4

Everyone became dead silent, Sophie had stiffened but I could hear her heavy breathing. She was nervous, as she should be.

I sighed, and shifted in my chair. I looked up at the stage and saw a small box of light, _here we go_, I thought. The box of light grew and grew until it was the size of a movie screen, when an image began to appear. At first it was a little bleary, but after a couple seconds an image began to appear.

It was black and white painting with a group of serious faced men wearing large hats, kind of like top hats, how so Abraham Lincoln. I knew not to laugh though, even though my incredible wit does seem to amuse myself from time to time. But this was serious; I could almost see myself years ago, after seeing this and puking my guts out, I have to say, not my best moment.

"In 1692," Mrs. Casnoff began, "two witches in Salem, Massachusetts, came to their powers and created a panic that left eighteen innocent humans dead. A group of warlocks from nearby Boston wrote to the warlocks and witches in London and created the Council. It was hoped that with the structure and resources, the council could better control magical activity and prevent other tragedies like this one from occurring."

The image faded and changed into a portrait of a red haired woman in a very unfashionable green dress, I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "This is Jessica Prentiss," Mrs. Casnoff continued, "She was an enormously powerful white witch from New Orleans. In 1876, after her younger sister, Margret, perished while having her powers stripped by the Council, Miss Prentiss proposed the idea of a safe house of sorts, a place where witches whose powers were potentially harmful could live in peace."

The portrait faded and an old photograph of the school in 1903 appeared. "It took almost thirty years, but her dream was realized in 1903. In 1923, the Council granted shapeshifters and fae the right to come to Hecate as well."

"This isn't so bad, just a history lecture," Sophie whispered to me. I shook my head.

"Just wait."

"in 1967," Mrs. Casnoff continued, "the Council realized it needed a place to train and mold young Prodigium who were using their powers without the proper level of discretion. A school where they would learn more about the history of Prodigium, and of the dreadful consequences of exposing their abilities to humans. And so Hecate hall was born."

"Juvie for monsters," Sophie muttered under her breathe.

I laughed, trying to contain it, but seriously, this chick was almost as funny as I was. I straightened in my chair when Mrs. Casnoff glanced our way.

"Miss Mercer," Soph jumped in her seat and I smirked. "Can you tell me who Hecate is?"

"Um, yeah. She's the Greek goddess of witchcraft." Mrs. Casnoff nodded.

"Indeed. But she is also the goddess of the crossroads. And that is where all of you children now find yourselves. And now and demonstration."

"Here we go." I murmured. Another small speck appeared on stage. But instead of creating an image, a man appeared. He looked pretty realistic, except for the fact that he was glowing like Casper the ghost. The man looked about seventy, old, and wearing overalls and a plaid shirt; a scythe dangled from his right hand. He stood motionless for a moment, then like a live action movie, he began swinging the scythe, like he was cutting grass.

"This is Charles Walton," Mrs. Casnoff's boomed across the dining hall. "He was a white warlock from a village in England called Lower Quinton. He kept to himself and earned one pitiful shilling an hour as a hedge cutter for a local farmer. In addition to that, he performed simple spells for the people of Lower Quinton: potions for gout, the occasional love spell… simple harmless things. But then, in 1945, the village had a bad harvest."

More figures started appearing behind the man. There were four of them, two of the fours backs were to us and the other two were facing us. They all looked pretty normal, but the Eye taught me to always look behind the appearances, I mean after all looks could be deceiving. Just not two feet away sat a demon who looked pretty harmless. But she wasn't, with the flick of her finger she could wipe out the whole room, the whole _school_.

The two people facing us where holding pitchforks, while the others facing away, even from behind looked scared. "The people of Lower Quinton decided that Charles must be to blame for their crops failing, and… well, you can see the rest."

The people with the pitch forks darted forward, grabbing the old man by the elbow and whirled him around. The old man looked terrified, my heart squeezed in my chest. I knew that look, yes the warlock had the powers, but he didn't really do anything. It was the Eye that where the monsters. We killed. Happily.

They threw the old man to the ground and drove the pitchfork him his neck. I leaned forward on my elbows and glanced at the scene in disgust. They said that the old man was a monster, but what an inhuman way to end someone's life. The scene finally faded away.

Mrs. Casnoff spoke up, "After stabbing him, the villagers went to carve symbols on Mr. Walton's body, which they hoped would ward off his 'evil' magic. After five decades of trying to help his fellow villagers, this is how Charles Walton was repaid by humans."

Then suddenly the room was full of images and sounds. A family of vampires stood behind Mrs. Casnoff and were staked right there by a group of men in black suites. _Oh crap_, I thought. Then from our left I heard gunfire, Soph ducked like someone was shooting at her. A werewolf collapsed off to our left. And to my surprise the shot was fired by an old lady, well looks like even Betty Crocker had some hidden skeletons.

I closed my eyes, but could still hear the noises. I guess this is what Mrs. Casnoff wanted me to see, because this was new. But I honestly didn't want to be puking again and give Soph some blackmail back at me for the 'Bad Dog' thing.

When the screaming started, I could hear Sophie's heavy breathing and was surprised at what I did next. I covered her hand with mind; she jumped in surprise but didn't move away.

I was staring at the witches; but my gaze had moved from them to the warlocks, who were dangling along with the witches. Sophie curled her fingers around mine, and I stopped myself from jumping in surprise.

Finally after what seemed like eternity, the images disappeared and the dining hall lights came back on.

Mrs. Casnoff stood in the front of the room, "This is why all of you are here. This is what you all risked when you recklessly used your powers in the presence of humans. And for what?" she turned and glanced around the room, "To gain acceptance? To show off?" and I swear her eyes landed on Sophie for a second before she returned her gaze back on the horrified crowd of students. "We've been prosecuted unto death by humans who will happily use our powers if it suits them. And what you just saw—" she swept her hand around the room. "is just what normal humans have done. This is nothing compared to what is done by those who've made it their life's work to eliminate our kind." A picture of bland looking men and woman in suites that looked to bored and polished to be 'monster slayers.'

I slouched back in my seat. "There's a group that calls themselves the Alliance. The Alliance is made up of agents from several different government agencies from several different governments. Luckily, they stay so bogged down with paperwork that they're rarely an actual threat."

The picture had faded and was replaced with a trio of woman with the brightest red hair I've ever seen. And Elodie's hair is pretty red, so that's saying something. "And of course, the Brannicks, an ancient family from Ireland who have been fighting 'monsters,' as they call us, since the time of Saint Patrick. These are the current keepers of the flame, Aislinn Brannick, and her two daughters, Finley and Isolde. They tend to be a little more dangerous, as their ancestor was Maeve Brannick, an incredibility powerful white witch who renounced her race to join with the church. They're therefore imbued with more power than your regular human."

She waved her hand again and the woman disappeared. Then a black image formed above her head, an image I was all too familiar with, considering I had a tattoo of it right above my heart. An eye. And I totally knew where this was going, _and here comes my favorite part,_ I thought solemnly. "II'Occhio di Dio. The Eye of God," she said, and I sank lower in my seat. Everybody drew in a breath.

"What's that?" Soph asked me.

I turned with a sarcastic smile trying to make up for the embarrassing hand holding, "You can't do a blocking spell, and you've never heard of II'Occhio di Dio? Man what kind of witch are you?"

Mrs. Casnoff started talking before Soph could say something nasty in return, I'm sure. "ll'Occhio di Dio is the greatest threat to any Prodigium. They are a group based in Rome, and their express purpose is wiping our kind off the face of the earth. They see themselves as holy knights, while we are the evil that must be purged. Last year this group alone was responsible for the deaths of more than one thousand Prodigium."

I almost snorted, actually it was more the Brannick's doing, they were always scoping out nests of vampires to take out, the Eye only targeted threats, or so I was told.

"In the past we've more than held our own against these three groups, but that's when they were separate and at odds. Now we've received word that they may be forging a sort of peace. If this happens . . ." She sighed. "Well, let's just say we can't let that happen."

The Eye faded and Mrs. Casnoff clapped her hands together, "Now. Enough of that. You all have a very big morning tomorrow, so you are dismissed. Lights out in half an hour." I wrinkled my nose in disgust, Mrs. Casnoff sounded too cheerful to me, personally, I though this all was a load of bull.

I looked around and saw that everybody was as shell shocked as the next. I sighed and got up, "Well that was new."

…

I was halfway up the stairs when I heard Soph call my name… well last name. "Cross!" I paused and turned toward her, I admit my curiosity got the best of me.

"Mercer." I replied, and for once, when talking to Sophie, I didn't have a smirk on my face. Soph rolled her eyes.

"Look, what did you mean by 'that was new'? I thought you'd seen all that before." I came down a couple of steps so that I could be semi eye to eye, no pun intended. But it wasn't my fault that she was four foot.

I shrugged, "I have. Three years ago, when I was fourteen. My first year here. But it was different then."

"Different how?" I resisted the urge to sigh, why did she even care? She was lucky she didn't have to witness that twice. I almost shuttered, man three years ago was not my best moment.

I shrugged out of my blazer and rolled my shoulders, man these uniforms were _ugly_. "They still did the Charles Walton thing; that seems to be a favorite. And there was a werewolf getting shot, and maybe one or two faeries on fire. But there weren't as many images. And they weren't all at once like that."

I looked up and down at her, I admit I was a little impressed she didn't run away screaming at the first image. "No hanged witches and warlocks either. I have to say, I'm a little impressed."

She crossed her arms and scowled, I could tell she didn't like that I was looking at her and I smirked. "Impressed by what?" she asked irritated.

"When I saw that show three years ago, I had to run into that little bathroom over there"—I pointed to a small door across the foyer-"and puke my guts out. What we saw tonight was a lot worse, and you don't even look pale. You're tougher than I thought."

She gave me a funky looking expression, I think she was trying to act 'cool', "I just don't believe all that."

I raised an eyebrow, "Don't believe all what?"

"All that about humans wanting to kill us in lots of nasty ways."

I almost asked if she had lost her damn mind, but then I got what she was asking, or well arguing about. Her mom was one of them, a human supposedly. "I think history pretty well supports that hypothesis, Mercer. Hell, humans have wiped out thousands of their own kind trying to get to us."

"Yeah, but that was in the past," she argued. "Back when they also thought drilling a hole in your head, or draining your blood would cure you of a disease. Humans are a lot more enlightened now."

"That a fact?" I was smirking again, and I hoping it would irritate her even more.

"Look," she said. "My mom is human, okay? And she loves Prodigium. She'd never do a thing to hurt one. She even got a-"

"Her daughter's one."

"What?"

I gave out a heavy sigh and tossed my ugly jacket over one shoulder. I glanced down at her and found that she was checking me out. I smiled a little.

"Your mom may be an awesome person, but do you honestly believe she'd feel all warm and fuzzy about witches if she weren't raising one?"

I knew I had got her because she didn't answer back, I wish I could say I got some satisfaction from it, but I didn't.

"You're right," I said, tone softening a little, I admit, I felt a little bad. "Humans aren't what they used to be. But all those images were real, Mercer. Humans are always going to be scared of us. They're always going to be envious of our powers, and suspicious of our motives."

"Not all of them," She said, her voice sounded weak, and I knew she was doubting everything she thought of humans before. I felt bad, she didn't know any better, I mean she's been growing up with them not knowing what she was, what she could do.

I shrugged again. "Maybe not. But you've been living with one foot in each world, and you can't do that anymore. You're at Hecate now."

"Yeah, but-"

"Arch!"

Elodie was standing on the landing above us. I almost sighed in frustration, yay the evil girlfriend is back.

"Be right there, El," i called up to her, starting the perfect loving boyfriend act, that I absolutely hate about as much as Elodie.

"'Arch'?" Soph asked, trying to do the raising one eyebrow thing and epically failing. She just looked Super surprised. My lips twitched, into a smile.

"See ya, Mercer," I replied.

As I was turning to leave Soph blurted out, "Do you think they might have a reason sometimes?"

I turned back to her. "Who?" I asked, even though I knew who she was talking about.

She glanced around, but the hall was empty.

"Those people. The Alliance and those Irish girls. The Eye," She whispered. "I mean, what we saw was awful, but aren't there dangerous Prodigium too?"

For a moment we held each other's gaze. I started studying her, not knowing what she was asking, I mean sure there are, but that's what all those 'monster hunters' where for. To get rid of us….. or well them, Prodigium.

I smiled a little when her checks redden, I loved that I had effect on her. i walked down the two steps between us until I was one the same stairs as her.

"I wouldn't say that kind of thing around here if I were you, Mercer,"

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry it took so long for this! Hope you liked! Review please! Next one will be up tomorrow.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Morning/afternoon my fellow fanficters (Not sure if that's a word, but whatever) ok I'm going to do a shout out, my first one and I've seen others do it so I'm trying it. Special thanks to Sky Reads Books, I know some writers might not want to hear any criticisms, but I welcome it. I want feedback, if you have some ideas that could make my fanfic any more enjoyable, or if you just see some little errors that need fixing, just tell me. So again, thanks to Sky Reads Books, I appreciate it, especially since I don't want to be yelling at my readers, I'm sure that's a big No-No in my fanfiction rule book (I don't have one… and I'm not sure that's a thing, but if I did, maybe) So thanks again, and keep on reading!**

CHAPTER 5

That night of the little movie that I enjoyed oh so much, Elodie told me that her and her little rag tag team are going to try and get Soph to join their Sister witches club. I don't know what had pissed her off even more, the fact that I had laughed right in her face; or right after she had said that I had said that Soph wouldn't be that stupid.

So yah, you could say there's a little trouble in paradise right know, well as far as I am concerned, no where's paradise if Elodie's there. So that night she had left with a pissed off look on her face, and she's been avoiding me for a week and half. I guess there might be a little jealously brewing. But I was surprised she would even consider me having feelings for Soph, since in Elodie's eyes she was a goddess, and of course _nobody _would prefer anyone besides her.

So you can imagine my suspicion when I had entered 'gym class' in the ugliest gym uniform known to Prodigium, and saw Elodie and her Barbie doll gang with smirks on their faces. Honestly this was the happiest I've seen her in a week so of course I was suspicious. My gaze moved over to Chaston and saw that her arms were linked with Soph's and I knew they were up to something.

Now, I wasn't really a swearer, but right now I was thinking of some pretty nasty words that would have the Eye, whose men cussed like sailors, cringing.

To my surprise when Elodie's eye's landed on me, instead of giving me one of her pissed off looks and flipping her hair, she made her way over to me with a smile on her face. I was instantly on my guard, Elodie wasn't the one to just forgive so easily, when we got in fights she always wanted me to come back to her and beg for her forgiveness.

Instead of ignoring her like I wanted to, I gave her a peck on the lips, quick and brief, then glanced around the room.

"All right people!" The Vandy screamed as she made her way, 'scuse me, as she pushed her way, through the crowd of scared looking students.

Her tattoos were one of the most unfortunate things about her appearance. Of course, there was the scrunchie that honestly I thought made her look worse, but by the way she was flaunting it I think she thought she was bringing the 60s back. Her small piggish eyes were also kind of freaky, the way they darted around the crowd like she was looking for someone to beat the crap out of. "Listen up!" she yelled, and I honestly didn't think she had an inside voice at all.

"Listen up!" she barked, usually I thought country accents were pretty endearing, but the way The Vandy was screaming at us right now I think she's scarred me for life.

"I'm sure your other teachers will tell you that your classes in Magical History or Classifications of Vampires, or, what, Personal Grooming of Werewolves"-I noticed a few werewolves were a little ticked at that comment, "are more important than this one. But tell me this: how much are those classes going to help you when you're under attack from a human? Or a Brannick? Or, worst of all, an Eye? You think books are going to save you when ll'Occhio di Dio comes calling?"

Nobody was listening and I think that angered The Vandy because her chest puffed up like she was going to take us all on in a fight. I almost rolled my eyes; because I was pretty sure I could beat everybody here in a fight, _especially_ The Vany. She glanced down at her clipboard of doom and screamed out the first unfortunate student's name, the name of the person she usually choses to torture for the whole class.

"Mercher! Sophia!" Oh, I totally should've seen that coming.

"Um… here. Me." Soph shuddered and raised her hand hesitantly.

"Come forward!" she did too, and walked up to the Vandy like she was going eat her. But the way the Vandy was seizing Soph it seemed like she was gonna try. The Vandy grabbed her by the arm until she was standing next to her.

"Now, Miss Mercer, it says here on the chart that this is your first year at Hecate, correct?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Uh . . . yes, ma'am."

"So apparently you did a love spell that got you sent to Hecate. Was it for you, or were you just trying to make some human your friend, Miss Mercer?"

I heard snickers from the crowd and Soph's face turned red from embarrassment.

The Vandy didn't wait for answer because she knelt down by a large bag and when she stood back up she was holding a stake. _Oh crap,_ I thought, because I totally knew what was coming up next.

"How would you defend yourself against this, Miss Mercer?"

"I'm a witch," she said and I held back a laugh, obviously she has a lot to learn.

"You're a witch?" the Vandy repeated. "So, what? A large pointy piece of wood slamming into your heart won't kill you?"

I shook my head, _stupid_ _Soph._ "I, uh, I guess it would, yeah."

The Vandy smiled, and I immediately knew something was up. This was one of her disturbing smiles that read, 'I'm plotting to humiliate you in front of all of your peers and I'm going to enjoy ever last minute of it.'

Turning away from Soph, Vandy scanned the crowd, until her eyes landed on me. "Mr. Cross!"

I made my way up to the front and moved to other side of Vandy and crossed my arms not too happily.

Then the Vandy turned to Soph and put the stake in her hand.

Vandy grabbed Soph's hand with the stake and held it up like she was getting ready to stake me in the chest.

Soph looked up at me, and she saw that I was struggling not to laugh, she was going to epically fail and I had front row seats to witness it all. I could tell this irritated her a bit because her eyes narrowed and her grip tightened on the stake like she was actually considering sticking that thing in my chest.

"Mr. Cross," the Vandy said, still smiling sweetly, "kindly disarm Miss Mercer using Skill Nine."

Instantly, all my happiness washed away, "You've got to be kidding." The Vandy knew that if demonstrated wrong, someone could break something, and it would hurt…. A lot.

"Either you demonstrate it or I will." I sighed, it would be better if I did it than her. I could at least go a little easier on Soph. The Vandy would _try_ to make Soph break something.

"Fine."

"Excellent!" the Vandy said. "Now, Miss Mercer, attack Mr. Cross."

Soph just stared at her, and I resisted the urge to yell at her to get it over with. If she keeps testing The Vandy she's going to make this year much more worse and the Vandy will have more fun in torturing the ever loving crap out of her.

The Vandy's smile hardened. "Any day now."

Soph raised the stake to about shoulder height and took two awkward steps forward, like she was unsure about how to tackle me to the floor. But I didn't give her any more time; I _gently_ grabbed her throat and pulled her head down. Taking my knee to her stomach I also _softly _threw her back and landed on top of her with my knee on her right thigh.

I could tell even though I tried being as gentle as possible, she was still in pain. I winced, she was wheezing in my face, I could tell I took her breathe away. But not in the way I really wanted too.

I was off her in a second; I didn't want her to know that it hurt me to do that, even though she was literally rolling on the ground in pain.

"Very good!" the Vandy screamed and I was seconds away from tackling her to the floor as well.

I gently grabbed Soph by her arms and pulled her up. "I'm sorry," I murmured, but she just glared angrily at me.

"Now," the Vandy said brightly, "Mr. Cross showed excellent technique there, although I would have definitely stayed on the opponent's chest longer."

I nodded slightly at Soph to tell her, _see it was better that I did it instead of the Vandy_, I think she got the message, but I think she was still pissed off at me.

"And now, Mr. Cross, Skill Four," the Vandy chirped.

I shook my head. "No."

"Mr. Cross," the Vandy said sharply, but I just tossed the stake at her feet, trying to keep the disgust in the look that I was giving her to a minimum.

"Very well. Watch and learn, people. Skill Four. Come at me, Miss Mercer."

Soph just stood there staring at her.

Vandy pursed her lips in irritation, and then her hand shot out to grab Soph. I was getting ready to intervene when Soph kicked out and hit Vandy in the chest. Hard.

I heard the other students draw in a collective breath. _Oh crap, _Sophie was so dead.

She knelt down and offered Vandy her hand. "Oh my God! I . . . I didn't mean . . ."

Vandy got to her feet, nostrils flaring. She was majorly pissed. And Soph was majorly screwed.

"Miss Mercer," she said. "is there any reason you can think of that I shouldn't give you detention for the next month.

"I like your tattoos!" She blurted out. And this was one of the times where I wanted to smack her senseless. Everyone in the crowd gasp, if possible, even louder. I sighed, well this escaladed quickly.

The Vandy tilted her head at her and narrowed her pig-like eyes. "You what?"

"I . . . I like your tattoos. Your ink. Your, um, tats. They're really cool."

"I hope you weren't planning on having any free time here at Hecate, Miss Mercer," the Vandy sneered. "Detention. Cellar duty. Rest of the semester."

She shook her head, she had no idea what she was doing. She was digging an even bigger hole for herself and it was my time to intervene before she screwed up things for her even more.

"Oh, come on," I said, glaring at Vandy. "She didn't know, okay? She wasn't raised like us."

"Really, Mr. Cross? So you think Miss Mercer's punishment is unfair?"

I didn't answer, but I had a feeling I threw myself in the hole with Soph when I stood up for her. "Fine. Share it, then."

Elodie squawked.

"Now, both of you get out of my gym and report to Mrs. Casnoff," the Vandy said, rubbing her chest.

I was out the door almost before the words left the Vandy's mouth, screw this.

I was almost halfway down the hall when I saw that Soph was limping right next to me.

"You like her 'ink'?" I snarled, I honestly didn't think Sophie would be that stupid. "Like she doesn't have enough reasons to hate you."

"I'm sorry, but are you pissed at me? Me? I'm the one who had your knee practically crushing my spine, buddy, so let's check the attitude."

I stopped suddenly that Soph had accidently walked passed me, she had to turn around to face me. "If the Vandy had pulled that maneuver, you'd be at the infirmary right now. Sorry for trying to save your ass. Again." now I was the one getting pissed, she should be thankful that I saved her from a hurtful butt whopping that would've ended in major injuries.

"I don't need anyone saving my ass," She shot back, her face red.

"Right," I drawled and started walking toward the house, leaving her behind in my angry wake.

"What do you mean she has enough reasons to hate me?"

I didn't stop walking; she could go ask someone else for all I care. I already tried helping her and I ended up getting cellar duty and getting yelled at. But she didn't give up, she walked up beside me.

"Your dad's the one who gave her those 'tats.'"

She grabbed my elbow, stopping me. "Wait, what?"

"Those marks mean she's gone through the Removal. They're a symbol of her screwup, not a point of pride with her. Why would you . . ."

I trailed off, finally getting it. "Elodie," I muttered. And ok, I guess I exaggerated a little bit on Elodie being pure shopping and girlie girl things. Elodie did have those rare moments when she would actually show me that she really is a breathing, living human…. Well witch, if you want to be technical about it. In those rare moments she'd actually have depth and act a _little _decent. Yah, obviously this wasn't one of those times, because she could also be very deceitful and evil.

"Yeah," Soph fired back. "Your girlfriend and her friends were really helpful in filling me in on the Vandy this morning."

I sighed and rubbed the nape of my neck, "Look, Elodie . . . she's-"

"So do not care," Soph said, holding up my hand. "Now, what did you mean when you said my dad gave her those tattoos?"

I looked at her incredulously. "Whoa."

"What?"

"You seriously don't know?" I mean sure, know she didn't know about much being a '_witch'_ but I didn't know she was _that_ in the dark.

"Don't. Know. What?" she asked, even more, if possible, pissed.

"Your dad is the head of the Council. As in, the guy who sent us all here."

She looked at me with wide surprised eyes and then burst into tears. I admit I was a little thrown off my game. I never have had to deal with crying, especially girls crying. Elodie was too stone cold to show emotion, besides satisfaction in making my and every bodies lives a living hell.

So when she had started crying, I thought that my first reaction would be to run away screaming 'too much emotions!' but instead I reached out, to I don't know, comfort her or whatever. But she jerked away and ran away from me; I just stood there watching her. I was confused, so entirely and immensely confused.

**Hope y'all enjoyed, please review!**


	6. Chapter 6 AN

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry for my absence. I had a date with a cold that lasted for a week. it sucked. Anyway, winter break is tomorrow and school is out, so you'll be expecting a chapter that will be ****_long_**** every day, or every other. Now I know what your thinking, usually authors say they'll be back, and then a year later they FINALLY post. But I promise I will. So tomorrow one will be up. Oh and please review. If you are following my story, or me, just comment if you like it. Also I am glad to tell you that I will be posting another POV of a guy from another series soon. The Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, if you haven't read them I suggest you do. If you like Sophie's sarcastic attitude you'll love Alex's. Though for some sexual content and a few mentions of 'it' I wouldn't suggest reading it unless you are 12 or older. But other than that the series is amazing! please read it, and review. Love y'all! Update will be up soon. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay so, here I am. I hope y'all read the A/N and forgive me for being gone so long, I know what you're thinking, ****_where the hell have you been?_**** Well, I am here to apologize and tell you that you'll be getting many, many updates this week and the next, besides Christmas eve, and Christmas. I hope you guys enjoy…. **

CHAPTER 7

After Sophie's melt down and me being the kind gentleman I am, I reported to Mrs. Casnoff. I told her that the Vandy had pinpointed Sophie as her torture victim and Soph was just defending herself. Then she, in turn asked why I had found myself in the office. And being the teacher she was, she lectured me on talking back to the teachers and that The Vandy was just trying to teach me some 'valuable life lessons.' After I had almost rolled my eyes multiply times, but refrained from it, knowing I'd get some more unwanted lectures, I just nodded and told her 'yes ma'am' like the good little student I was.

After I had 'left' Mrs. Casnoff's office, I had put an invisible spell on me and followed Mrs. Casnoff, knowing she'd go and tried to find Soph. Earlier I had told her that Soph had no idea that her father was in the council, hoping that Mrs. Casnoff would feel bad for Soph and go easy on her, I hoped it worked. As we made our way toward the pond, we saw Soph sitting on velvet chaise lounge covered in hot-pink zebra stripes. I tried holding back my laughter but I kind of came out like a snort. Mrs. Casnoff turned around, her eyes brows drawn together. I smacked my hand over my mouth, which didn't help because all it resulted in was a loud 'pop' sound. She turned back around and walked over to Soph.

She sighed and laid down on the fugly chair and closed her eyes.

"Sophia Alice Mercer, a freak among freaks," she mumbled, stretching out. I winched, I thought that exact same thing. I guess Mercer and I weren't all that different.

"Pardon?" Mrs. Casnoff said, looking at Sophie.

Soph opened her eyes, squinting up at Mrs. Casnoff.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked, not getting up. She looked too comfortable, I wanted to lie down as well and sleep.

Mrs. Casnoff put a hand on Soph's shoulder and pushed her up in a sitting position.

"According to Mr. Cross, you have cellar duty for the rest of the semester, so yes, I would say you are in a great deal of trouble. But that is Ms. Vanderlyden's concern, not mine."

Mrs. Casnoff looked at Soph's chair with disgust. She placed her hand on the back of the chair and Soph's spell faded away until it became a light blue seat covered in big pink cabbage roses. I scrunched up my nose in disgust, personally I thought it was worse than Soph's.

"Better," she said and sat next to Soph.

"Now, Sophia, would you care to tell me why you're here by the pond instead of reporting to your next class?"

"I'm experiencing some teenage angst, Mrs. Casnoff," she answered. "I need to, like, write in my journal or something." I snickered quietly; they showed no signs of hearing me.

Casnoff snorted, "Sarcasm is an unattractive quality in young ladies, Sophia." I thought the exact opposite, who would want a girlfriend that just smiled and said, 'whatever you say honey'. I mentally shook my head, I mean it's not like I thought that Mercer would be a good girlfriend or anything…. "Now, I'm not here to indulge whatever pity party you have decided to hold for yourself, so I would prefer it if you told me the truth."

Soph looked over at her and sighed.

She looked like she was assessing on how much she could trust Casnoff. And I couldn't blame her, Casnoff's bun was too tight, too severe. I think it could be cutting off the circulation to Casnoff's brain.

Soph just shrugged, "I don't know anything about being a witch. Everyone else here grew up in this world, and I didn't, and that sucks."

I nodded my head; that took a lot of courage to admit you don't know something. Of course the Eye would probably beat the shit out of you if you show any sign of weakness. I rubbed my arm where the scare was from my first fight, first training. I was fighting this one guy, Jem, I think his name was. And I admit that he was kicking my ass pretty badly, so I stopped fighting, just gave up. And let's just say it wasn't pretty, I had to stay in the nurses for a week. But in my defense I was eight, and Jem was about as big as a MMA fighter.

"Yeah." Casnoff replied, showing no signs of sympathy. "I'm hardly privy to your father's reasons for doing things, but I'm sure he had a reason for keeping his position from you. And besides, your presence here is very . . . sensitive, Sophia."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She didn't answer for a long time; instead she stared out at the lake.

Finally Casnoff turned to Soph and put her hand over Soph's, I guess to reassure her or whatever. I shivered, I bet Mrs. Casnoff's skin felt papery and old.

"Follow me to my office, Sophia. There are some things we need to discuss."

Her office was on the first floor, off in the sitting room had some weird funky chairs.

"When did you get new furniture?" Soph asked.

Casnoff glanced over her shoulder. "We didn't. It's a perception spell."

"Excuse me?" Wow, Soph really didn't know anything. I sat down in the chair off to their left in the corner in the room, hoping no one got a time out in the corner anytime soon.

"One of Jessica Prentiss's ideas. The furnishings of the house reflect the beholder's mind. That way we can gauge your comfort level with the school by what you see."

"So I imagined the gross furniture?" I raised a questioning eyebrow.

"In a way, yes."

"What about the outside of the house? No offense, or anything, but it still looks pretty rank."

Mrs. Casnoff gave a low laugh. "No, the spell is only used in the public rooms of the house: the lounge areas, the classrooms, and so forth. Hecate must maintain some of its brooding air, don't you think?"

Soph turned away from the windows, looking around the room in confusion. She looked like she was expecting something…. I don't know, grander.

Casnoff led us into a small windowless room. It smelled strongly of her lavender perfume, and another stronger, bitter smell. I scrunched up my nose in disgust, realizing it was some type of tea. A small electric kettle was bubbling on the edge of a simple small table.

There were books everywhere, stacked in every single open space there seemed to be in this sorry excuse for an office. Some books were in languages I've never heard of, others were familiar to me and I could easily make out their titles. I guess one perk of being in the eye was that they loved having their killers…. Excuse me, soldiers, multi lingual.

I glanced around her office, it was familiar to me, I've been in it more times than I care to count actually. There was a reason I got the title of the hottest bad boy in Hex Hall, I smirked to myself.

Soph sat in the chair across from Casnoff, looking like a 5 year old scared of getting yelled at.

"Tea?" she asked after shifting in her throne of authority.

"Sure."

Soph took a sip, and looked like she relaxed, her shoulders relaxed an inch. Looks like Casnoff strikes again.

Soph looked up at her. "How did you-"

Mrs. Casnoff waved her hand. "I'm a witch, Sophia."

Soph scowled, she didn't look very happy.

"So you know a spell that makes tea taste like . . . tea?" I bit the inside of my check to keep from laughing.

Mrs. Casnoff took a sip from her cup, and looked like she too was trying to keep back from laughing. "Actually, it's a little more than that." She gestured to the kettle. "Open it."

She leaned forward and opened it.

It was empty I suspected.

"Your favorite drink is your mother's Irish breakfast tea. Had it been lemonade, you would have found that in your cup. Had it been hot chocolate, you would have had that. It's a basic comfort spell that's very useful for putting people at ease. As you were before your naturally suspicious nature kicked in."

Sophie looked impressed, though she was trying too hard to hide it.

"What if my favorite drink had been beer? Would you have given me a frosty mug of that?"

Casnoff shrugged elegantly. "There, I may have been somewhat stymied."

"Tell me, Sophia," Mrs. Casnoff said, "what exactly do you know about your family?"

"Not much," Mercer said warily. "My mom's from Tennessee, and both her parents died in a car accident when she was twenty-"

"That is not the side of your family I was referring to," Mrs. Casnoff said. "What do you know of your father's people?"

She looked uncomfortable at Casnoff's eagerness. "All I know is that my father is a warlock named James Atherton. Mom met him in England, and he said he grew up there, but she wasn't sure if that was true."

Mrs. Casnoff sighed and put down her cup, she was obviously impatient. She than began rummaging through the leather portfolio, she slid her glasses down and muttered, "Let's see, I just saw . . . Ah yes, here it is." She reached into the portfolio, than looked at Soph.

"Sophia, it is imperative that what we discuss in this room remains in this room. Your father asked me to share this with you when I thought the time was appropriate, and I feel that time has come." I looked at her curiously, wondering what this was about.

Soph nodded, still looking uncomfortable. I stood up and walked up behind Sophie.

Casnoff looked closely at Soph, until she saw what she was looking for, she handed Soph a black-and-white picture, with a woman staring back at Soph. She looked maybe a few years older than us, and from the style of her clothes that I could see, the pic looked like it was taken in the 1960s. Just behind her, I could make out the front porch of Hecate Hall. The shutters had been white back then.

She was smiling, but the smile looked tight, forced. I could tell that she looked like Soph's father, her eyes were similar to the picture I had seen once of James. This obviously, was Sophie's grandmother. Lucy.

"Who-" Sophie's voice broke a little. "Who is this?"

"That, is your grandmother, Lucy Barrow Atherton." Mrs. Casnoff said, confirming what I had originally thought.

Even though this was Sophie's grandmother, they looked nothing alike. Sophie's grandmother looked sad, though she was smiling you could tell it was forced, not real.

"She was here?" Mercer asked, sadly.

Casnoff placed her glasses on top of her head and nodded. "Lucy actually grew up here at Hecate, back before it was Hecate, of course. I believe that picture was taken shortly after your father was born."

"Did you . . . did you know her?"

Casnoff shook her head. "I'm afraid that was before my time. But most Prodigium know of her, of course. Her story was a very unique one."

Soph looked curious, "Why?"

"I told you the story of the origins of Prodigium your first day here. Do you remember?"

"Right. Angels. War with God."

"Yes. However, in your case, your family did not gain its powers until 1939, when your great-grandmother Alice was sixteen."

"I thought you had to be born a witch. Mom said that only vampires start out as human."

Mrs. Casnoff nodded. "Usually that is the case. However, there is always the odd human who attempts to change their fate. They find a spell book or a special incantation, some way to imbue themselves with the divine, the mystical. Very few survive the process. Your great-grandmother was one of the few."

Sophie looked speechless, she glanced down at her tea. "How?" she asked, looking up at Casnoff.

Mrs. Casnoff sighed. "There, I am sadly at a loss. If Alice ever spoke in depth to anyone about her experiences, it was never recorded. I only know what I've picked up here and there. Apparently, she had gotten mixed up with a particularly nasty witch who was attempting to enhance her own powers through the aid of black magic, magic that has been outlawed by the Council since the seventeenth century. No one is exactly sure how Alice was involved with this woman-a Mrs. Thorne, I believe her name was-or even if she knew what the woman was. Somehow the spell that was meant for Mrs. Thorne transformed Alice instead."

"Wait, but you said Mrs. Thorne was using black magic for this spell, right?"

Mrs. Casnoff nodded. "Yes. Truly terrible stuff, too. Alice was very lucky she wasn't killed during the transformation. Mrs. Thorne was not as fortunate."

"So my . . . my great-grandmother was made into a witch by black magic? As in, the worst, most dangerous kind of magic ever?"

Again, Mrs. Casnoff nodded. She was still looking at Soph very closely.

"Your great-grandmother was an aberration, Sophia. I'm sorry. I know that's a very ugly word, but there's no way around it."

"How"-her voice came out as a croak than she cleared her throat-"what happened to her?"

Mrs. Casnoff sighed. "She was eventually found by a member of the Council in London. She'd been committed to an asylum, ranting and raving about witches and demons. The Council member brought her and your grandmother Lucy to Hecate."

"My grandmother?" She looked down at the photo in my hands.

"Yes. Alice was pregnant when she was found. They waited until your grandmother was born to bring them both here."

She poured herself another cup of tea. "So what happened then?"

Mrs. Casnoff stirred her tea, "Alice did not adjust well to her transformation," and I could guess what happened next. "After three months here at Hecate, she somehow contrived to escape. Again, no one is sure how, but Alice had some very powerful magic at her disposal. And then . . ." Mrs. Casnoff paused to take a sip of tea.

"And then?"

Finally she lifted her eyes. "She was murdered. ll'Occhio di Dio." My heart almost stopped; of course it was the eye. _Who else?_ I thought bitterly.

"How did we know it was-"

"They're very distinctive in their disposal of us," she replied briskly.

"In any case, Lucy, who had been left behind, stayed here at Hecate so the Council could observe her."

"What, like a science experiment?" Soph asked angrily.

"Alice's power had been off the charts. She was literally the strongest Prodigium that had ever been recorded. It was vital that the Council know if that level of magic had been passed down to her daughter, who was, after all, half human."

"Had it?"

"Yes. And that power was also passed to your father." Her eyes met Soph's, "And to you."

I sighed; I think I've heard enough and left.

I was walking through the halls, with a lot of things running through my mind when I literally ran into Elodie. Well, a very pissed of Elodie.

_Please not right now,_ I thought.

Her eyes met mine, they looked angry.

"What the hell Archer?"

"Um, hi?" I said, not sure why she was angry at me.

"Why did you defend that…. That frizzy haired freak?"

I couldn't help it, but I smirked, which if possible, pissed her off even more. "What? Are you _jealous _Elodie?"

Her eyes flashed, "Me? Jealous, of _her_?"

"Yah Elodie," I couldn't help it, but I got pissed as well. "But what I don't get is, what is your problem with Soph?"

"Soph? Soph! What? Do you guys have pet name for each other?"

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever El. I honestly don't give a shit anymore."

Her eyes widened. I know, I never swore in front of Elodie before, but she was really pissing me off.

"Hey, I'm sorry Arch, I didn't mean anything."

I sighed; I didn't really _love_ Elodie, not like that. But she _could _be nice, one in a while. "It's okay, El. I think I'm just tired. I'll- talk to you later, okay?"

She nodded, and I pecked her on the lips and left.

I was down stairs when I saw Sophie go into the library. I looked upstairs and shrugged, school could wait and I followed her. I knew I was watching her just out of morbid curiosity, not because of the Eye, because I wanted to. I shuddered and casted the invisible spell again. Man, when did I become such a stalker?

She scanned the shelves looking for something, but for what? I had no clue.

She made an 'ah-ha' sound when she found something.

The book was black, with a cracked spine. There was no title, but a large golden eye was stamped on the front. And I knew immediately what it was. Damn.

I shook my head, not wanting to see her disgusted face when she read all about my _family_. I turned and walked away, not sure when I even started caring when people thought of me. Not sure when I started caring about Soph. but I knew right then and there it was too late. I was already too far in, I might even love her.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Hello fanfictors, I am alive! I mean, I've been alive for like, 15 years, but I mean I am free. I've had exams for the last week and have been studying my ass off. I am tired, but I'm never too tired to do an update. I apologize for my absence, I would've much rather updated like every day, then study and do…. Yuck, school. But school is important, and sadly required, so I've been gone for a while. I am truly sorry. This update will be long, and in the end I'm adding the POV of Archer when he and Soph are in the cellar again, but later since Mrs. Rachel Hawkins had given us another scene in the cellar with Archer, if you haven't read it on her website you should it's hilarious. Anyway, I still do not own Archer (sighs dramatically) or Hex Hall, so here y'all go. Review, read, subscribe and stuff. But not in that order…..**

Later, that week Sophie and I were standing on the steps in front of the cellar…. And even worse, the Vandy. She was rambling on and on about rules and what we were supposed to do down there. I hope Sophie was listening, because I honestly wasn't listening to any of it. It was hot and sweaty down at the cellar, so I had the stupid tie loose and my sleeves were rolled up, I was looking at the Vandy with my arms crossed. I wasn't listening to her, but I was looking at her neck instead. Every time she opened her mouth, this large blood vessel bulged out on the side of her neck. It kind of looked like a snake.

I continued watching the Vandy, with a slight smirk and a very amused expression, when I saw in the corner of my eye, Sophie moved, her body moved until it was facing me. I couldn't see her eyes, or anything, but I could tell she was practically checking me out. I was about to call her out for it, but Vandy beat me to it.

"Miss Mercer!" the Vandy barked, Sophie jumped so high I wondered if she was part Kangaroo. She lost her balance and almost toppled down the steps, I grabbed her elbow.

I winked at her, hoping that she knew I had caught her checking me out but she turned before I could smirk at her.

"Do you need me to repeat anything, Miss Mercer?" she sneered.

"N-no. I got it," Soph stammered.

The Vandy stared down Sophie for a minute; I think Vandy wanted to engage in an epic stare down competition. I was disappointed when she just growled and hulk stomped herself up the stairs.

"One hour!" she called over her shoulder.

She slammed the door shut, and locked the door. "Did she just lock us in?" Soph, asked me in horror. Her voice squeaked like a mouse. I looked around the cellar in wonder; there were probably some mice in here somewhere. I looked over at Soph, she was still looking at the door in horror, and I didn't think it would be the smart thing to tell her that we were probably locked in a room with a bunch of rodents.

"Yep," I replied, jogging down the steps to pick up one of the clipboards the Vandy had left precariously perched on a row of jars.

"But that's . . . isn't that illegal?"

I smiled but didn't look up from the clipboard. "You've really gotta let go of charming human issues like legality, Mercer."

I looked up from the clipboard, remembering the wad of tissues shoved in my 'trousers'. "Oh! Just remembered something."

I put the dreaded clipboard of doom down and fished in my pocket for a second.

"Here," I said, walking over to Soph, pressing the wad in her hands.

She looked down, and glanced back up. Her eyes were hard, and she had a very pissed off expression on her face.

"You're a jackass." She said, and tossed the tissues at my feet. She stomped past me, her face was red, and it looked like she was about to cry. I immediately felt bad; I honestly wasn't trying to hurt her feelings. I was just trying to make her laugh, maybe even diffuse the awkwardness of the situation.

I mean we were two teenagers, I was a hot guy, she was a beautiful girl, and my extreme sexiness was making probably making her uncomfortable, she was obviously trying not to throw herself at me.

Though I had a feeling that her appreciating my nice muscles and good looks weren't going to happen again, the next time she was going to even look at me, is probably to plot my painful death.

"No wonder Elodie's your girlfriend," she muttered so quietly I almost didn't hear her. I kind of stood there looking at her like an idiot. She thought I was as bad as _Elodie?_ That hurt my feelings.

She ripped off pages and handed them to me, along with a pen. I almost told her she could do it all herself if she was going to be moody. I also wanted to ask her if she was on her period, but that wouldn't be very smart, since last time I had asked Elodie she threw her blow dryer at me. I sighed dramatically, I wish girls came with an instruction manual of '_do's' _and _'__do not's'_, _do_ tell her that she's beautiful every day, Elodie likes to remind me every five minutes that a good boyfriend tells his girlfriend that she looks beautiful _all the freakin' time_. _Do not;_ ask your girlfriend if she's on her period, because if you do you're going to get a blow dryer to the face.

"You take this half," she said, not meeting my eyes. Then she walked over to the shelf farthest from me. I was still looking at her, like an idiot. Not that I was one. I really wanted to apologize, but my pride stopped me from admitting what I did was a jackass move. I sighed, a loud defeated and irritated sigh and walked over to the opposite side of the room.

For about fifteen minutes we worked in total silence. Even though the Vandy had spent forever explaining the job to us, it was actually pretty easy, if ridiculously tedious, work. We had to look at the items on the shelves and then find them on the sheets of paper and write down which shelf they were on and what slot on that shelf they were in. But of course I wasn't really doing anything, I was just pretending I was reading things on my list. I was actually watching Soph. Creepy, I know, but she looked really upset. I crouched down 'looking' at the bottom shelf, pretending I was actually doing something.

She squatted down and picked up a tattered leather drum. She kind of just looked at it for a moment, not moving. I could tell she was trying not to cry. Eventually my guilt won out. "It was a joke," I said suddenly, surprising her. She whirled around, and stared down at me angrily. Apparently my apology didn't satisfy her.

"Whatever." She said turning back to her 'work'.

"What did you mean about me and Elodie?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and stood up, she still wasn't meeting my eyes. "Is it really that hard to figure out? I mean, she got quite a big laugh at my expense the other day, so it's only appropriate that you, as her boyfriend, would also enjoy mocking me. It's so sweet when couples can share hobbies."

"Hey," I snapped, getting angry. "Elodie's little stunt got me in here too, remember? I tried to help you out."

"So did not ask you to," She replied, staring at a jar she was holding, like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. The things floating in the jar looked like leaves, but I knew they weren't. And I wasn't going to explain to her that she was holding little tiny dead fairies. Too late she realized what they were.

"NEEEEUUUUUNGGGHH!" She practically screamed as she rifled through her pages, probably looking for something that read "Small Dead Faeries."

"Well, don't worry," I snapped again, flipping through my own pages. "It won't happen again." And it certainly wasn't, if this was what I was going to get for trying to be a good little warlock, then I certainly wasn't going to help anyone, especially her again.

We were quiet for a moment, both of us looking at our lists.

"Have you seen anything that could be part of an altar cloth?" I asked.

"Check Shelf G, Slot 5," she replied.

I didn't know what made me say it but I felt the need to defend Elodie, i said, "She's not that bad, you know. Elodie. You just have to get to know her."

"Is that what happened with the two of you?"

"What?"

She swallowed, looking nervous all of a sudden. I would've laughed, if I wasn't still mad at her.

"Jenna said that you used to be, like, a card-carrying member of the We Hate Elodie club. What gives?"

I looked away and started picking up random things without really seeing them. "She changed," I said quietly. "After Holly died-you know about Holly?"

She nodded. "Jenna's roommate. Elodie, Chaston, and Anna filled me in."

I ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah. They're still really hung up on blaming Jenna. Anyway, Elodie and Holly had been really close when they started here, and Holly and I had been betrothed-"

"Hold up," She said, raising a hand. "Betrothed?"

I looked at her confused. "Yeah. All witches are betrothed to an available warlock on their thirteenth birthday. A year after they come into their powers."

I frowned. "Are you okay?" I asked. She was standing there staring at me with a strange expression on her face.

"Fine," She finally mumbled. "That's just weird to think about. It's so . . . Jane Austen."

"It's not that bad."

"Right. Arranged marriages for teenagers are a good thing."

I shook my head. "We don't get married as teenagers, just betrothed. And the witch always has the right to refuse or accept the betrothal and change her mind later. But the match is usually a good one, based on complementary powers, personalities. Stuff like that."

"Whatever. I can't even imagine having a fiance."

"You probably have one, you know."

She stared at me. "Excuse me?"

I resisted the urge to laugh, "Your dad is a really important guy. I'm sure he made a match for you when you were thirteen."

"Okay," She said to me, "Just . . . go on with your story."

"I don't think anyone realized how much Holly's death got to Elodie. So we started talking over the summer, about Hecate and Holly, and one thing led to another . . ." wow, I was an amazing liar. And actor actually. _Nothing _happened between me and Elodie, but it's not like I could tell Sophie that.

"And you can spare me the gory details," She said, with an expression I couldn't quite read. Was she jealous? Or just irritated of the fact that she though I thought that Elodie was nice?

"Look," I said finally, "I'll get Elodie and her friends to lay off you, okay? And seriously, try to give her another chance. I swear she has hidden depths."

"I said spare me the gory details." She shot back. I stared at her in shock, her face was flaming red and she looked really embarrassed.

I couldn't help myself, I started laughing. Very loudly.

Soph started giggling too, and before long we were both sitting on the dirt floor wiping tears from our eyes. I admit, I was really enjoying this time with Soph, she was actually not all that bad…. You know for a demon.

"I knew I liked you, Mercer," I said when we both finally stopped laughing.

"But wait," she said, leaning on one of the shelves, trying to catch her breath. I admit she looked pretty cute, her warm brown eyes were wide and bright, her checks were red, and her hair was as wild as ever, kind of like her mouth. I looked at her mouth, wondering if they felt as soft as they looked. Soph continued, "If everybody gets betrothed at thirteen, isn't she already set to marry somebody else?"

I nodded, looking up at her eyes, hoping she didn't notice that I was looking at her lips. "But I told you, it's a voluntary thing. A betrothal can always be renegotiated. I mean, I'm considered something of a catch."

"And so modest too," she replied with a smile on her face. She threw her pen at me, and I caught it with one hand.

From above us, the door gave its death scream, and we both leaped to our feet guiltily, like we'd been making out or something. I looked over at Soph, her checks were red, but not from laughing. She looked like she was blushing, her eyes were on my lips. I had to restrain myself from pulling her in my arms and crushing my lips onto hers, but then the Vandy spoke, in her half growl voice.

"Mercer! Cross!"

"Same time, same place, Wednesday," the Vandy said as we practically sprinted for the main staircase.

I was kind of disappointed when I saw Elodie sitting there on the old crappy bench waiting for me. Though I couldn't kiss, or even talk to Soph in front of my 'girlfriend' so I put on a look of puppy dog love and walked toward Elodie. Soph walked passed us, I couldn't see her face, but her muscles were tense, like she was holding back from punching Elodie in the face, I almost laughed because she was obviously jealous. I wanted to call out to her, say something, but she was shutting the door before I even had a chance.

Elodie put her arm around me in a sort of possessing manner, even though Soph wasn't here and the only person in the stair well beside me and Elodie; was the Vandy. I sure as hell would never look at the Vandy in anything besides disgust and irritation, so Elodie didn't have anything to worry about there. I just think Elodie wanted to stake her claim, saying to Soph silently that I was hers, and that irritated me. I mentally sighed as Elodie led me up the stairs, I remembered just wishing instead of it being Elodie who was holding my hand, that it was Soph instead.

...

A FEW WEEKS LATER

...

"Well, this is...awkward." I said. Soph gave me an irritated looked and tried to yank her hand from mine again. I wanted to tell her it was hopeless, that these rings just didn't want to give up. But after the third time I had told her she just glared at me and told me to shut up. I gave up after the fifth time and just stood there laughing at her while she tried getting these blasted rings off our hands.

" 'Hey, Mercer! Let's try on these enchanted rings! I'm sure putting pieces of magical jewelery on is nothing less than a totally stellar idea! After all,-'" She broke off to blow a hunk of hair out of her eyes, "it's _never_ ended badly for anyone before!"

I scowled at her, but really, I was trying not to laugh. "Okay, I would like the record to show that that was a truly terrible impression of me. And secondly-,'" I tried wiggling my hands, but they stayed locking with Soph's. Her hands felt warm and nice. Suddenly, I wanted to bang my head against the wall, seriously , when did I become suck a mushy emotional guy? "You didn't have to put one on. There was no peer pressure happening here."

Sighing, she put her foot on one of the lower shelves and tried once again to untangle her fingers from mine. Our hands stayed fixed together, but all she ended up doing was making me stumble and fall on top of her. Flustered, she tried pushing me off with her other hand, I grinned. She looked cute when she blushed.

"You know, Mercer-"

"Shut up."

"You don't know what I was going to say."

"Something snarky that's also vaguely suggestive?"

I mulled that over for a bit. "Actually...yeah. Nice one." It was scary that she knew me that well.

She rolled her eyes. "Awesome. Does your brain have other uses besides crafting the perfect comeback? Anything in there about these rings or how we might break the spell?"

I rubbed my chin, thinking; of course I knew what these rings were. I wasn't dumb, I just wanted to see what the outcome would be, if we were a perfect match. "Nothing in my brain, but maybe something on the papers?"

We were supposed to be doing inventory in the cellar, but we had strayed when we saw the rings. I had actually dared Sophie to put one on if I put one on. She obliged and then this happened. I thought I saw something about the rings on my paper, not that I needed to read some boring history of something that I already knew about. Apparently Sophie had the same thought; she too stepped toward her clipboard, which unfortunately was all the way across the room from mine.

Our magically joined hands pulled us up short, and once again, we stumbled into each other.

Her check met my chest. We stayed like that for a second and Soph inhaled, I drew my eyebrows together, I think she just sniffed me.

"Whoa," I said, and I steadied her shoulders. For a moment, my hand lingered there and our eyes met. Soph's eyes were brown and homely, they, I had discovered over the past few weeks, had gold in them when they shined in the sunlight, they were beautiful.

Clearing her throat, Soph stepped back as far as our hands would let her and nodded toward her clipboard. She said something, but I was still staring at her eyes.

I was still watching her. "Hmm?"

Her checks were red as she lifted our hands, waving them in my face, "Rings? The ones we need to get off right now?" She looked away, and added not meeting my eyes, "Not sure how your girlfriend would feel about us being joined together for all eternity."

I jumped, remembering my girlfriend, oops. I can't imagine how confused Soph was, it's not like I could tell her that I was only dating Elodie as a cover. "Elodie," I said, hiding my irritation.

"That's her name," Soph agreed. She held out her free hand. "About this tall? Red hair, gorgeous? Evil in human form?"

I shot her a wry look and batted down Soph's hand. "Okay, okay. So we'll go for your list."

Together, we walked over to the shelf and I held the clipboard while Soph flipped through pages, scanning the inventory. "Rings, rings, rings...Fangs, no. Necklaces, close but not quite...ooh, apparently there are some bracelets in here that will make you the owner's prisoner for life, so the next time you go on a jewelry trying-on kick, let's try to avoid _those_...aha! Wedding rings, Matthew and Isabella Foster, witch and warlock, early 17th century."

She looked up at me. Realizing we were wearing wedding rings. I wanted to smile at her, but I figured that I shouldn't look so happy, since I had a girlfriend.

"What kind of freaks would wear wedding rings that permanently joined their hands?" She asked, trying one last time to free our hands. "I mean, I get that marriage is a binding thing, but this is just stupid."

I closed my eyes, pretending to concentrate, I figured Soph was uncomfortable so I tried 'remembering' what I knew about the rings. Ha. "No, I read something about those two. They're famous for...something."

"Maybe for being co-dependent freaks?"

I didn't open my eyes, but I smiled. "That's probably part of it, but...right!" I snapped my fingers. "They were the ones who first introduced the whole betrothal thing."

"So these rings...," She said, raising her eyebrows.

"Weren't _their _wedding rings. They were used to help the Fosters make matches."

She glanced down at our hands, thinking the same thing I was. The rings thought we were a good match? She just replied with a simple, "Oh."  
>I tighten my grip a little, "Apparently, the rings think we would be a good match."<p>

I snorted, "Which just goes to prove that these things have clearly broken."

She laughed too, "Right. Apparently sitting on a shelf for three hundred years screwed up their magical matching mojo."

My fingers twitched and I smiled at her. "God, can you imagine? Me and you, all...," I waved my free hand, "coupled up?"

"Totally ridiculous," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Insane," I added, dropping my gaze to our hands.

"The worst idea in all of Bad Idea Town."

My shoulders lifted a little, but I didn't laugh. Neither did Soph.

We kind of just stood there looking at our hands until finally I spoke up, "Anyway, now that we know what they are, they should probably be pretty easy to get off."

I raised our hands, pulling them to my mouth. "Um...hey, little guys? While we appreciate your efforts at matchmaking, this fair lady and I have no desire to be paired up. I _am _grateful you picked a girl who matches me in sarcasm, so nice job on that front. And I know _she_ appreciates you finding her an incredibly hot stud such as my- ow!"

Rubbing the spot on my chest where Soph shoved me, I scowled at her and continued, "Anyway, Rings, thanks but no thanks. So if you could un-stick us now, that would be great."

There was a barely audible hiss and the silver heated up. I sucked in a breath and Sophie winced as the rings glowed hot. And then, just like that, our hands dropped free.

I shook my hand in relief, while Soph cradled her hand to her chest. I almost asked her if holding my hand was that disgusting, but reframed from making that comment.

"Well," I said at last, flashing her a grin. "Yet another adventure to add to our long list of Weird Things That Have Happened To Us In The Cellar."

There was a loud click from above us as The Vandy unlocked the door, signaling the end of Cellar Duty for tonight. We both grabbed out clipboards and headed toward the doors.

"That was the last one," she promised me as we headed up the stairs. "After that and the thing with the gloves, and that time you killed a pixie-,"

"It was already dead!" I insisted, but she ignored me.

"I am done having adventures in the cellar. The rest of the semester is going to be adventure-free."

We were at the top of the stairs now, pausing in the doorway, I turned to Soph, grinning. Then I noticed how the sunlight shown on her hair, on her eyes. I wanted to comment on how beautiful her eyes were, but stopped before I could screw everything up. Especially with the eye. I wanted to pat down my pocket, to make sure I still had the thing I stole… or well, _borrowed_ was a nicer way to put it.

"Now that would be a disappointment," I murmured.

And with that, I left.

**I hope you guys enjoyed it! Okay so I know I haven't posted the other story yet, but I'm going to be doing a different one, Percy Jackson series actually. Wonder what would happen if Percy had a sister? Well I sort of created a plot line for it, with shifting POV's including Percy's and Annabeth's. It will start in the middle of Blood of Olympus. But I'm working on it. I'll probably post the first chapter soon, but right now I'm focused on this story. But If y'all want the story sooner, just tell me! But if not, I might even finish this story before I worry about anything else. Please review, subscribed if you haven't already. Sorry again that it's a lot late! **


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